It is well known to provide fluid dispensers for use in restaurants, factories, hospitals, bathrooms and the home. These dispensers may contain one of a number of products such as, for example, soap, anti-bacterial cleansers, disinfectants, lotions and the like. The dispensers may include some type of pump actuation mechanism where the user pushes or pulls a lever to dispense a quantity of fluid, as is known in the art. Alternatively, “hands-free” automatic dispensers may also be utilized where the user simply places one or both hands underneath a sensor and a quantity of fluid is dispensed. Similar types of dispensers may be used to dispense powder or aerosol materials.
Product dispensers are commonly configured to be mounted on to a wall or other vertical surface, with product being dispensed from an outlet near the bottom of the dispenser. It is also known that dispensers may be integrated into a countertop near a sink basin, with certain components of the dispensing system being located beneath the countertop, and other components, including an outlet, being located above the countertop. These types of dispensers are often referred to as counter-mount dispensing systems. Various other configurations of dispensers are also known, including table-top style dispensers that rest on a horizontal surface such as a counter or table top, or stand mounted dispensing systems that attach to a mounting pole.
Dispensers may directly hold a quantity of product, but such dispensers have been found to be both messy and difficult to service. These bulk fill systems may also pose contamination and health concerns. As a result, refill units or containers that hold a quantity of fluid and provide a pump and nozzle mechanism have become increasingly popular. The sanitary refill units or containers are advantageous in that they are easily installed and replaced and create virtually no mess.
For varying reasons, manufacturers of fluid materials commonly wish to control the type of refill put in a dispenser. It is often of concern that the correct refill unit (type of product, concentration, product form, etc.) is put in the correct dispenser housing. In many cases, installing the correct refill unit is crucial to the customer. For example, it is imperative to hospital personnel to have anti-bacterial soap dispensed in a pre-surgical cleaning area, rather than another fluid such as, for example, moisturizing lotion. Therefore, manufacturers often provide keyed nozzle and pump mechanisms for each type of fluid refill unit so that only the appropriate refill unit can be installed in corresponding fluid dispensers. Manufacturers and associated distributors also rely upon keying systems to ensure that the dispensers can only be refilled with their own products and not products that may be inferior or have poor quality.
Although mechanical keys are helpful in ensuring that the proper refill unit is installed into the proper dispenser and that high quality product remains in the dispensers, these keying systems also have a number of disadvantages. For example, mechanical keys are often easily removed or altered. Thus, inferior fluid may be installed into a particular dispenser and the manufacturer and distributor may lose the ability to control quality of the product in the dispenser. Mechanical keying also necessitates significant tooling costs underwritten by the manufacturer to design special nozzles and dispensers that are compatible with one another. In other words, each dispenser must be keyed for a particular product, a particular distributor and perhaps even a particular location. Accordingly, the inventory costs for maintaining refill units with a particular key is significant. In addition, the lead time for manufacturing such a refill unit may be quite lengthy. Moreover, the identification of a particular keying device in a dispenser may be lost or damaged so that it is difficult to determine which type of keying configuration is needed for the refill units.
One non-mechanical attempt at controlling the type of product associated with a dispenser is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,400B1. This patent discloses a refill unit that utilizes a wafer with an embedded magnet that must be properly oriented into a housing in order for the magnet to be detected and effectively close an on/off switch. If the magnet is not detected then the dispenser is disabled. Although effective in its stated purpose, the device disclosed in the patent suffers from the disadvantage that a specific orientation is required for installation of the refill unit. The patent also discloses the use of a spiral coil on a printed circuit wafer on the bag which is inductively coupled to a similar spiral coil on the housing's base supporting surface. A capacitor connected to the spiral coil on the bag establishes a resonant frequency for a conventional frequency-measuring circuit to provide identification. It is believed that this design is lacking because it provides no teaching for adaptability for use with multiple dispensers. It is also believed that the disclosed configuration is subject to a mis-alignment of the coils which may lead to mis-identification of the bag. In addition, the use of a single coil as the emitting and receiving coils may lead to mis-identification of the bag.
Another non-mechanical attempt at controlling the type of product associated with a dispenser is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,621,426. This patent discloses a dispensing system that utilizes a near field frequency response to determine whether a refill unit is compatible with a dispensing system. In particular, the refill unit is provided with a coil terminated by one of a number of capacitors. The refill unit is received in a housing that provides a pair of coils that are in a spatial relationship with the installed refill unit's coil. By energizing one of the housing's coils, the other coil detects a unique electronic signature generated by the refill unit's coil. If the signature is acceptable the dispensing system is allowed to dispense a quantity of material. This dispensing system, however, suffers from the disadvantage that it is not easily recycled. The metal coils prevent recycling of the component in which they are located, namely a collar of the refill unit. Given the increasing desire to provide eco-friendly products and reduce the consumption of natural resources, the copper coils provided in this dispensing system may present a disadvantage.
Thus, the need exists for a sustainable electronic keying system for a fluid dispenser and refill unit.